Making Mackay Look Good: Dave Whelan Says English Jews Are A Bit Like the English

THE kerfuffle around Wigan Athletic’s appointment of Malky Mackay shows no sign of abating any time soon, as Dave Whelan – the Latics chairman – has gone and opened his big fat mouth.

As you may have heard, Mackay was embroiled in scandal after it was revealed he’d sent a number of offensive texts and messages while managing Cardiff City. Such as? Well, on the arrival of South Korean Kim Bo-Kyung, it was reported he sent a text to Cardiff staff saying: “Fkn chinkys. Fk it. There’s enough dogs in Cardiff for us all to go around.”

While talking about football agent Phil Smith, he said: “Go on, fat Phil. Nothing like a Jew that sees money slipping through his fingers”. When seeing a list of potential signings, Mackay said: “Not many white faces amongst that lot but worth considering.”

And now, Mackay has been appointed the manager of Wigan, just months after the racist and sexist messages, which in turn, has put pressure on Whelan. The Wigan chairman hired Mackay while under investigation by the Football Association. Mackay, naturally, denied being racist, but it is hard to see how he can talk his way out of it.

What doesn’t help matters is that Dave Whelan has poured fuel on the fire. While talking to the Guardian, he’s alleged to have used the word “chink” and also said that “Jewish people chase money more than everybody else”.

In response, he’s said: “If I have upset one person, I apologise. All I was trying to say was that Jewish people are very similar to the English people in the desire to work hard and get money. I didn’t think I did anything wrong in that.” He then added that he didn’t think saying “chink” was an insult because, if someone called him a ‘Limey’, he wouldn’t be offended at all and, on top of that, “a lot of this talk goes on around the world and people accept it.”

He then throws in “Chinaman” for good measure, before inserting all of his feet into his mouth.

Cardiff owner, Vincent Tan, has accused Whelan and Mackay of being racists, saying: “This is a racist chairman hiring a racist manager. I hope that stops at two racists in Wigan, not snowballing to 2,000 or 20,000 racists in Wigan.”

“I think the world is watching what the FA will do. Will it be a regulator on football matters with teeth or a toothless regulator?” Tan is also concerned that Whelan is under the impression that the FA won’t be taking action against Mackay: “If that is true and if the FA is taking this matter lightly, I must say I am very disappointed. The FA must understand that the whole world is watching.”

Of course, this has echoes of Donald Sterling, former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers who made racist comments to his girlfriend about black athletes. Sterling was forced to sell the NBA side as a result.

Football Association have said: “The FA is very concerned to read about the comments that have been attributed to Dave Whelan. We take all forms of discrimination seriously. As with all such cases, this will be dealt with as a priority. The investigation is already under way and The FA’s Governance Division have written to Mr Whelan. He has three working days to respond.”

This is why Dave Whelan keeps going on about breaking his leg when he was a player – it stops him from saying “chink” and talking about ‘them Jews’.